Netflix is co-financing Johnny Depp’s first project since he won big in a highly publicized defamation lawsuit against ex-wife Amber Heard, according to Bloomberg.
The A-list actor will star in the French period film “La Favorite” as King Louis XV, the publication reported. Two insiders told Bloomberg that the movie will receive financial backing from Netflix.
“La Favorite,” which will be directed by Maiwenn Le Besco, is scheduled to be released in 2023 in French theaters. It will hit Netflix France 15 months later and then possibly be released to worldwide audiences later, though it’s unclear if and when that would happen.
Representatives for Netflix and for “La Favorite” producer Why Not Productions declined to comment on the rumors.
If true, “La Favorite” would be Depp’s first acting role since being shunned in Hollywood following Heard’s allegations of domestic violence against him. The 59-year-old “Pirates of the Caribbean” star filed defamation charges against his ex because of lost work and a tarnished reputation due to her claims. The actor won $10 million in damages in June following a long, drawn-out court battle.
Depp’s last film was “Minamata” in 2020.
Per reports, this would be the actor’s first time acting in a French film. It’s scheduled to be shot this summer in France in locations including the Versailles castle.
Rumors were circulating that Depp could return to the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise, but his rep explicitly denied them.
“This is made up,” Depp’s spokesperson told NBC News in a statement, The Daily Wire previously reported.
Depp is still angry with Disney for firing him in the first place without him being tried or convicted of any crimes. “Captain Jack Sparrow was a character I built from the ground up and was something that I, of course, put a lot of [myself] into the character and also having worked on these films with these people and added much of myself, much of my own re-writing of the dialogue and scenes and jokes,” he said, per Movieweb.
“I didn’t quite understand how, after that long relationship and quite a successful relationship certainly for Disney, that suddenly I was guilty until proven innocent,” the actor continued.
Depp’s starring in a French film could mean he’s moving on from “Pirates” and from other major Hollywood studios that shunned him after Heard’s accusations during the height of #MeToo.